PROVIDENCE – The 2014 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts will be given at the 18th annual Pell Awards on June 9 to actor Richard Jenkins and his wife, director/choreographer Sharon Jenkins.

Trinity Rep also announced that Mary Paula Hunter, a nationally known dance educator and choreographer, will receive the 2014 Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Trinity Repertory Company, followed by a reception at the nearby Providence Public Library.

Richard L. Bready Artistic Director Curt Columbus said that giving the lifetime award to the couple in the theater’s 50th anniversary season is especially meaningful.

“They have been transformational figures in the history of Trinity Rep,” Columbus said. “Their work, both onstage and off, has influenced how audiences have looked at theater. From Shakespeare to American classics to new work to musicals, they both have made theater that is immediate, beautiful and bold.

“Their commitment to community and place make them exceptional recipients in the spirit of the great Senator Claiborne Pell,” he added.

The Pell Awards honor Sen. Claiborne Pell by recognizing artistic excellence in Rhode Island, New England and nationally. Pell sponsored landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965, and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee.

Richard Jenkins is a former artistic director at Trinity Rep and an Academy-award nominated film, stage and TV actor.

He was a Trinity Rep acting company member for 14 seasons, starting in 1970 and served as artistic director from 1990 to 1994. Appearing in more than 60 feature films, he has been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, a Critics Choice Award, a Gotham Award, and won a Satellite Award as well as an Academy Award nomination for his performance in “The Visitor.”

The theater’s black-tie gala will be co-chaired by Clay Pell, Michelle Kwan, and Barbara and Larry Schoenfeld. Nuala Pell will serve as the event’s honorary chair.

Individual tickets are $500, and a limited number of individual tickets to the ceremony and post-show reception are $250. Corporate sponsorships also are available. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Trinity Rep’s artistic programs.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Trinity Rep at (401) 453-9237.

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